Korean J Parasitol.  2012 Jun;50(2):137-141. 10.3347/kjp.2012.50.2.137.

Dirofilaria repens in Vietnam: Detection of 10 Eye and Subcutaneous Tissue Infection Cases Identified by Morphology and Molecular Methods

• De NV
• Le TH
• Chai JY

• KMID: 1384742
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.3347/kjp.2012.50.2.137

Abstract

From 2006 to 2010, hospitals in Hanoi treated 10 human patients for dirofilariasis. The worms were collected from parasitic places, and identification of the species was completed by morphology and molecular methods. Ten parasites were recovered either from the conjunctiva (n=9) or subcutaneous tissue (n=1). The parasites were 4.0-12.5 cm in length and 0.5-0.6 mm in width. Morphological observations suggested all parasites as Dirofilaria repens. Three of the 10 parasites (1 from subcutaneous tissue and 2 from eyes) were used for molecular confirmation of the species identification. A portion of the mitochondrial cox1 (461 bp) was amplified and sequenced. Nucleotide and amino acid homologies were 95% and 99-100%, respectively, when compared with D. repens (Italian origin, GenBank AJ271614; DQ358814). This is the first report of eye dirofilariasis and the second report of subcutaneous tissue dirofilariasis due to D. repens in Vietnam.

Keyword

Dirofilaria repens; case report; eye; subcutaneous tissue; PCR; mitochondrial cox1; Vietnam

MeSH Terms

Adult
Aged
Animals
Cyclooxygenase 1/genetics
Dirofilaria repens/anatomy & histology/genetics/*isolation & purification
Dirofilariasis/*diagnosis/parasitology/*pathology
Eye/*parasitology
Eye Diseases/parasitology
Female
Humans
Male
Middle Aged
Molecular Diagnostic Techniques/methods
Parasitology/methods
Phylogeny
Polymerase Chain Reaction
Sequence Analysis, DNA
Sequence Homology
Skin Diseases/parasitology
Subcutaneous Tissue/*parasitology
Vietnam